


Navigating Emotional Landscapes

by Sylindara



Series: Heaven's Eye [3]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - His Dark Materials, I'm sorry it keeps coming out in dribs and drabs, M/M, Still more pre-slash than slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-09
Updated: 2015-07-09
Packaged: 2018-04-08 11:27:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4303062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylindara/pseuds/Sylindara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Does it count as a reunion when it feels like you knew each other in the first place?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Navigating Emotional Landscapes

Years ago, when Takao picked up a little runaway boy only to lose him again, he was left with an unbelievably important gift he did not understand. It had felt like a poor replacement, but a fitting one, as the alethiometer gave him answers to questions he never knew he had – the only question it could never answer were the ones raised by the appearance of a wealthy little boy in the slums of Shuutoku. It seemed just as fitting then, that the once-lost little boy reappeared in Takao’s life just as he lost his ability to read the alethiometer.

It was also incredibly awkward, because Manako was right back to her old ways of fussing at Amazu and trying to groom him – and what was once acceptable behaviour for kids take on much more embarrassing connotations when they were in their late teens. Takao slanted a glance at Midorima, who was staring down at the reference book on the table in front of him despite the fact that Amazu had started licking at the feathers on Manako’s breast.

“Why did you stop?” Midorima looked up for the first time since they started this session. “Was that the end?”

“No.” Takao sighed. “Next is sword, then globe, helmet, beehive, cauldron.”

A delicate frown settled between Midorima’s brows. “That cannot be right.”

“It _is_ right,” said Takao mournfully. “I just don’t know why it’s right anymore.”

Midorima opened another book. “In that case, maybe…”

Takao sighed again, flopping back against the couch and feeling supremely useless. He never knew how he was able to read the alethiometer in the first place, so he was half expecting to lose the ability someday. But that left him with no leads, no possibilities of ever being able to read it again. And with Takao illiterate, he couldn’t even help Midorima look through the reference books and try to patch together meaning out of it. The only thing he was good for was reading off the alethiometer, which apparently also took skill he did not realise existed – skill that he retained despite losing everything else.

Takao looked back over at the daemons now that the needle had stopped. Directly in the path of the sunbeams streaking through the open window, Amazu cuddled into Manako’s breast and cooed; Manako cooed right back. Another glance at Midorima revealed that there was the slightest hint of red creeping up his face, and Takao could feel a corresponding heat rising in his own cheeks. He didn’t know how to react to Midorima anymore; the easy connection they had had as kids felt like a dream, one Takao wasn’t sure he remembered correctly. Why had he reached out so easily to a rich runaway? Why had Midorima accepted? Why were they here, now, their daemons so close it was like they had never parted? In his hands, the needle of the alethiometer jumped furiously, an answer he no longer comprehended.


End file.
